After three decades as the Blue Wiggle, Anthony Field has started thinking about retirement.
The founding member of The Wiggles, Field says he "will hang the skivvy up sooner or later" and has already considered who he might pass it on to.
"When I hang up the skivvy I'd like to see someone from a different cultural background," Field said.
His pick is Evie Ferris, a dancer of Aboriginal descent with The Australian Ballet and a performer on The Wiggles' latest song, We're All Fruit Salad!, which was released this week to mark the group's 30th anniversary.
"I actually said to Evie, 'Hey you would look great in blue', and she said, 'Well my favourite colour is blue'," Field said.
Field, 57, formed the Wiggles in 1991 and lined up the original band members Greg Page, Jeff Fatt and Murray Cook.
These days the band includes Field, Emma Watkins, Lachy Gillespie and Simon Pryce, who have been performing together since 2013.
'Children haven't changed'
For the past 30 years, The Wiggles have travelled around the world, entertaining and educating children through song and dance.
Field has been a constant throughout that time and has seen much change, particularly in the delivery of their music.
Recently The Wiggles reached over 1 billion music streams via services likes Spotify and Apple Music.
"The amount of [acceptable] screen time has changed," Field said.
"We're more sophisticated now with TV and the live shows.
One of those reinvention strategies was the addition of Watkins as the Yellow Wiggle in 2012.
Until then, the only other female character was Dorothy the Dinosaur.
"Having children helped me with The Wiggles," Field said.
"Then [daughters] Lucia and Maria came along, and so Dorothy started ballet because they were doing ballet."
What hasn't changed over the past three decades is the audience and Field's passion for making music and providing quality education.
"Children haven't changed. Everything is new to them," he said.
"It's just how they get their music that's different."
'We're all fruit salads'
The Wiggles' newly released song sends a strong message of unity, acceptance and respect.
It includes performers from around the world and from different ethnic backgrounds, including Filipino-American actor Lou Diamond Phillips, Ngunnawal artist Richie Allan playing the didgeridoo, and Robert Rakete, a New Zealander of Maori descent.
The clip and sentiment in the song echo Field's vision to diversify the band's members.
"We're all fruit salads — doesn't matter where you're from or the colour of your skin," he said.
Last June, in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement, the Daily Mail reported that American viewers had criticised the band for its lack of diversity.
While original Purple Wiggle Jeff Fatt is Chinese-Australian, when three of the initial line-up left in 2012, they were replaced with white artists — a move Field said "wasn't a conscious decision".
He noted they had improved other aspects of diversity, by increasing their female representation with Watkins and, he joked, he was providing "age diversity" in the group.
'There have been crazy things'
Lasting three decades in the entertainment industry is no mean feat for a musician, let alone a band.
The motivation for Field has always been the children and the feeling of "responsibility" he has to provide a broad exposure to music genres.
He said the process of writing a song, deciding whether it's one to dance to or sing to, still "makes me tick", while the "buzz" of performing on stage is still as loud as ever.
His time in the spotlight though has not all been as positive as the music he plays.
Field has spoken previously about his battle with clinical depression and said he's never quite been at ease with the media scrutiny.
"There have been crazy things, like I got this watch from Paddy's Market and I wore it on TV yesterday and someone wrote that I was wearing this million-dollar watch.
"But it was a knockoff that I got for $26. I just don't like all that, I just like playing shows."
LoadingBack on the road
The band has only recently returned to the stage after the pandemic forced the cancellation of live shows last year.
The business lost 85 per cent of its revenue and had to let staff and cast members go, Field said.
The Wiggles will kickstart their 2021 tours in New Zealand in March, after first quarantining for two weeks.
Field said it would give him the opportunity to practice his banjo and bagpipes.
"Electric ones of course, so I can plug my headphones into them."
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiUmh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIxLTAxLTIyL3dpZ2dsZXMtY2VsZWJyYXRlLTMwdGgtYW5uaXZlcnNhcnkvMTMwNzQ5NjDSASdodHRwczovL2FtcC5hYmMubmV0LmF1L2FydGljbGUvMTMwNzQ5NjA?oc=5
2021-01-21 19:56:00Z
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